Figure 1.--Here we see an unidentified mother and son in Prague during 1939. The precise date is not given, but it was defintely afrer March when the Germans invaded. The teenage son is escorting his mother during a shopping expedition in downtown Prague. The boy is very fashionably dressed in a short pants suit with dressy shirt and tie, knee socks, and well polished shoes. He gives a very dressy, rather upper-class impression. We wonder if they might be ethnic Germans. If so they were now privlidged citizens, but the boy would in a few years be drafted into the Deutsche Wehrmacht.

Here we see an unidentified mother and son in Prague during 1939. The precise date is not given, but it was defintely afrer March when the Germans invaded. The teenage son is escorting his mother during a shopping expedition in downtown Prague. Mother and son are both fashionably dressed. The boy wears a short pants suit with dressy shirt and tie, knee socks, and well polished shoes. He gives a very dressy, rather upper-class impression. We wonder if they might be ethnic Germans. If so they were now privileged citizens, but the boy would in a few years be drafted into the Deutsche Wehrmacht. A reader writes, "It seems unusual for a boy of at least 16 years old and maybe older--to be dressed in short trousers, especially a short trouser suit." We would guess the boy's age at 15 years, perhaps 16 years as our reader estimates. We know that boys in Germany often wore short trousers suits well into their teens. At the time, many boys got their first long pants suits at about 15 years of age. This varied from family to family. Some boys wore short pants suits even at age 16 years, although by that age knickers or long pants were probably more common. So this boy seems to be following the German conventions which was generally true for fashion throughout Czechoslovakia. One might think that he may be a Czech boy and wearing an older suit because of the difficult conditions after the Germans seized control. But look how long the jacket sleeves, about the length a mother might choose forca growing boy. This is clearly a suit that has just recently been purchased and not one the boy has grown out of. It may have just been purchased, although we do not see the old suit which would not have been left in the shop. (It would have been kept for school or more casual wear). The boy seems to be delighted to have his mother on his arm. I doubt that he would be wearing such dressy clothes to school in 1939.

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Crerated: 6:46 PM 5/3/2012
Last updated: 6:46 PM 5/3/2012